Russia takes a two-pronged approach to space exploration

Apr 18 2012

Ilyá Kramnik

RIR

Drawing by Niyaz Karim

Roskosmos intends to join the ExoMars program, but puts conditions on its participation that will help develop Russia’s domestic space industry.

The Russian Federal Space Agency Roskosmos and the European
Space Agency (ESA) have agreed to partner on the ExoMars project, one of the
biggest Mars exploration projects of the last few decades. The agreement has
not yet been finalized, and approval by the Russian government is pending, but
the deal is likely to be signed this fall.

“I expect this agreement to be signed in the
first half of the year or late summer at the latest… We are interested in
finalizing it as soon as possible in order to have the legal grounds for
allocating money for scientific equipment,” Roskosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin told reporters.

Originally, Roskosmos had no plans to become involved in the
project, but stepped up after NASA backed out citing budget constraints. However,
the Russian side’s decision to come aboard is dependent on three conditions:
Roskosmos will contribute its launch vehicle in payment for the partnership;
Russia will supply its own instruments instead of NASA’s, and all scientific
results will be the intellectual property of both the ESA and the Russian
Academy of Sciences.

The ExoMars project has a reasonable cost even by Roskosmos budget
standards – the program will cost a total of $1.4 billion, according to the
current project budget, which is acceptable for Roskosmos, which has an annual
budget of about $4 billion. Nevertheless, a certain increase in financing will
be required.

By joining ExoMars, Russia will be able to phase down its own Marsnet project, which
planned to create a network of meteorological stations on Mars.

“ExoMars, if successful, will have the same
scientific mission as Marsnet, which was part of our program. Marsnet focused
on studying the climate of Mars and this same objective is among the ExoMars
priorities, although there are some other objectives as well,” said Lev Zeleny, Director of the Space Research Institute of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, in an interview with RIA Novosti.

“The funds that the Federal Space Program has
allocated for Marsnet will be used to pay for our participation in the ExoMars
project,” Zeleny added.

Russia’s financing of the Proton vehicle for the first launch
could be partially covered by the insurance payments for the lost Phobos-Grunt
sample probe.

The plans for ExoMars involve two launches. The first, scheduled
for 2016, will deliver Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) into Mars orbit – it is designed
to map methane sources on Mars. If methane is discovered on the planet, this
could mean the possibility of life there. In 2018-2019, the orbiter will be
transferred to a lower orbit, where it will continue collecting scientific data
and transmit them from the ExoMars rovers.

The landing module, with a static meteorological station that
will include Russian instruments, will become the second part of the first
launch payload.

Mars vs. the Moon

For Roskosmos, exploring Mars is as important as exploration of
the moon, but the agency’s moon program is further along. Russia’s moon rovers Luna-Resurs and Luna-Glob
are to be delivered to the surface of the moon to explore the south and north
poles, respectively, in 2015. Further plans for the moon program involve
additional moon rovers and a cosmonaut to walk on the moon – although this is
unlikely to take place before 2020.

Additionally, Roskosmos still has plans for a Martian expedition
of its own. Unmanned vehicles will pave the way – Mars-Grunt is expected to
land on Mars in mid-2020 and then deliver samples of Martian soil back to
Earth. A manned mission to Mars might follow in the more distant future, but
this would require further exploration of the Moon and the creation of an intermediate
base there.

Both Roskosmos and Russia’s top leadership want Russia to retain its
status as not only a conduit between the Earth and space, but also a space
power. This is part of the motivation for taking part in the ExoMars project –
at the moment, joint projects are the only way to jump-start a space program
reliably. Even so, some experts are concerned that excessive involvement in
foreign projects could frustrate restoration of the key domestic production
necessary for making scientific equipment for space vehicles.